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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28297395">Watercoolers and Spreadsheets</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemily/pseuds/chemily'>chemily</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Prom (2020), The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coworker AU, F/F, Friends to Lovers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:55:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,739</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28297395</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemily/pseuds/chemily</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma's plan was to go back to Indiana for a few months, help her grandma sell the house, move them both to California, and to go on with her life and her graduate program. When she applied to be a research assistant, it was meant to be temporary, a way to make some extra cash. She didn't expect to make friends, and she definitely didn't expect to fall in love. So much for that plan.</p><p>It's a workplace AU!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Watercoolers and Spreadsheets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"You can see she's a beautiful girl, she's a beautiful girl. And everything around her is a silver pool of light. The people who surround her feel the benefit of it, it makes you calm. She holds you captivated in her palm.<br/>Suddenly I see." -KT Tunstall</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>All in all, Emma didn’t hate her job. It had decent benefits, from a good vision plan to frequent pizza parties, and her supervisor had been very understanding when it came to working from home and making up missed hours, which was good, considering her reason for taking this job in the first place. Honestly, she had hoped she would be well into her PhD program by this point in her life, but when her grandma needed more help around the house, she couldn’t exactly say no. So, she dropped everything, deferred her admission to the program at UC Santa Cruz, and moved back to Indiana. The plan was to stay for a few months, help her grandma sell the house, bring her out to California and settle her into an assisted living, and resume her graduate program. But no one seemed to want a fixer upper in Edgewater, Indiana. Go figure.</p><p>And so, Emma ended up working as a research assistant at a local non-profit for $18 per hour and doing all kinds of weird grunt work for her boss. It wasn’t bad though. Everyone was nice enough, even with all of the turnover at the RA position. People coming and going from this job was common; for many, it was a stepping stone or a holding place before they moved on to something better. Meaning that, at a year and a half, Emma was quickly becoming the most senior RA in the lab, leading to her increased involvement in the hiring process, helping to select a few RAs now. So when she saw a new RA sitting in the desk next to hers, she was thrown off guard. Partly because she was completely out of the loop in hiring this RA.</p><p>Partly because the new RA was <em>hot</em>.</p><p>Emma froze for a second, clutching her messenger bag on her arm, before slowly approaching her cubicle. She was acting weird and she knew it, and the new girl looking up at her from her desk knew it, but she couldn’t help that she wasn’t prepared to see such a pretty new face at 9am on a Monday morning. Emma always hated the “useless lesbian” trope, but in this moment, with her eyes glued to one of the prettier girls she’s seen in a while, her brain short-circuiting repeatedly, Emma couldn’t deny that it’s accurate <em>sometimes</em>.</p><p>Luckily, the RA was less flustered than Emma, standing up as Emma dropped her bag onto her desk and reaching her arm over the short cubicle wall to request a handshake with a small smile gracing her features.</p><p>“Hey,” the new hire started. “I’m Alyssa.”</p><p>“Hi. Emma,” came the reply as she grabbed Alyssa’s hand in a gentle handshake. “First day?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Alyssa answered, pulling her hand back while keeping a kind smile on her face. Emma couldn’t help but notice how warm her deep brown eyes were, how cute her small smile was, or how calming her presence seemed to be. Not that it helped Emma, who was fidgeting nervously now that she had both of her hands back to herself and nothing to do with them. “I’m working in Dr. Allen’s lab.”</p><p>“Oh cool. I work for Barry.”</p><p>“Cool.” Alyssa smiled again, and an awkward silence fell over them. Emma, while definitely more outgoing than she was in her younger years, was still shy and she prayed that she could come up with something, <em>anything, </em>to say to Alyssa to prolong the conversation. As she opened her mouth to try, she heard an excited shriek from behind her.</p><p>“Alyssa!” It was Kaylee, an intern turned full-time RA, who hurried over in a work appropriate slow jog before wrapping Alyssa up in a hug. Once they pulled back from the hug, Kaylee continued to hold Alyssa at an arm’s length, doing a onceover of her outfit. “Look at you, all fancy for the new job. So glad they took my suggestion and hired you.”</p><p>Alyssa laughed and smoothed out her blouse where Kaylee’s aggressive hug had wrinkled it, readjusting her necklace as well. Emma noted that she should stop staring at the new girl and wondering if her movements were attempts at being professional on her first day or a more consistent desire to be perfect, which led to Emma reminding herself to stop thinking of beautiful strangers as “perfect” in the first place. Thankfully, she was again pulled from her pensive state by a voice behind her.</p><p>“Would you look at that, Kaylee’s girl is here,” remarked Nick, another one of the department’s RAs, arriving promptly at 9:14 AM. “You gotta love nepotism.”</p><p>Emma took pause at the phrasing, spiraling for the third time in 15 minutes. Her “<em>girl?</em>” He meant that as a friend, right? Emma didn’t know Kaylee all that well, but she was pretty sure Kaylee was straight, as evidenced by her frequent flirting with the men in their department, and just everything else about her. She decided not to think too much into it.</p><p>“She went through the interview process, just like everyone else,” Kaylee responded, in a tone that could be best described as a child attempting condescension. “Besides, the company gives you money if you refer someone and they get hired. They <em>want</em> us to bring in our friends.”</p><p>“Yes, because the nepotism being funded makes it so much better.” Kaylee made a mocking face back at him and he smirked back, a sign that Nick had won this round of their unofficial rivalry, as he often does. Kaylee redirected her attention to Alyssa then, turning to a conversation about their families and friends and events that existed outside the realm of the company. Emma took this as her cue to start her day, booting up her computer and going over her bulleted to-do list that had been messily scribbled on some post-it notes.</p><p>Getting deep into her thoughts, Emma almost didn’t notice when Nick had returned from the break room and was leaning on her cubicle wall, two Keurig coffees in hand. He passed the one with creamer in it to Emma, knowing how she took her coffee, and she muttered a thanks before taking a sip of the subpar drink.</p><p>“Did you catch the game yesterday?” Nick asked.</p><p>“If you’re referring to the Colts game that happened at the same time as my Niners playing, you know the answer is ‘no,’” Emma laughed.</p><p>“She leaves Indiana for four years and turns her back on her hometown team,” Nick lamented in feign dramatism. “What kind of loyalty did they teach you in California?”</p><p>“Five years,” Emma corrected. “And you know that I only got into football when I was at Cal. The Niners <em>are</em> my city’s team if you think about it that way.”</p><p>“Yeah, but I won’t think about it that way.”</p><p>“Of course you won’t. But I did see the Colts highlights, because I knew you would ask.” Nick beamed at Emma’s admission and they began to discuss Sunday’s best plays.</p><p>In all honesty, Emma wasn’t the biggest sports fan by any stretch, but if keeping up with the Colts meant having a friend at work, it was definitely worth it. And at some point, Emma considered him to be a work friend, having a friendship that was a step above casual pleasantries but not the type to text outside of work. Part of it was that she had even come out to him, accidentally as it was. In one of their early sports talks, Emma had let it slip that she had gotten into football to try to impress a girl. Nick was shocked at first, and Emma felt instant regret, even though she thought her soft butch attire had already betrayed her orientation. But a few days after their talk, Nick apologized for the awkwardness that had been created, and said that after watching “Love, Simon,” he understood better and would be more accepting. That acceptance was shown in the form of Nick showing Emma his Tinder matches and looking for her input, but she figured that that was better than the homophobia she had faced the first time she came out in Indiana. And Nick kept her sexuality a secret, so all things considered, she was grateful to have such a friend at work.</p><p>The day, like all Mondays, dragged on with time seeming to stand still at points. Nick left Emma’s desk after a supervisor found them chatting and shut down their conversation. Nick returned to his desk and Emma returned to her to-do list, which didn’t have much for her to do at the moment. Her boss was waiting to hear back from a collaborator, and she had some testing scheduled for tomorrow, but in the meantime, she resigned to a bit of waiting. She was multitasking between cleaning her inbox and scrolling through Instagram when she felt a presence at her cubicle. She slammed her phone down, hoping the person wasn’t her supervisor reprimanding her for phone use (again) and turned to instead face the new hire.</p><p>Alyssa was standing before Emma, who was seated in her chair, making it feel like she was towering over Emma. She was smiling though, which helped to put Emma’s sudden nerves at ease. Some of them, at least, but Emma was still too nervous to speak as she stared at Alyssa.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>“Uh, hi.”</p><p>Alyssa laughed nervously. “I was talking to Sheldon, and he said I should reach out to you about training.” Sheldon was the senior research coordinator, a title that was too simple for all the work he did. It was new to see him delegating tasks, which was probably good for him and his perpetually high level of anxiety, but it was news to Emma that she would be on the receiving end of the delegation.</p><p>“Training?”</p><p>“Yeah, training on the different cognitive tests and stuff. I have a list.” Alyssa shuffled the stack of papers in her hand to reveal a checklist. She leaned over so that Emma could see as well. “So there’s some cognitive tests and then some reading assessments. Also, that stuff with the IRB, and I heard that you were the resident expert on intervention that helps with vision or something.”</p><p>Emma laughed. “I’d hardly call myself an expert at any of these things, especially since Barry practically invented some of these tests and interventions.” Alyssa furrowed her brow and Emma quickly started talking again, not wanting to lose this opportunity to work with her. “But I learned from him so I guess I’m the next best thing.”</p><p>“Good! Good,” Alyssa responded, seeming relieved. “Are you free this week at all?”</p><p>Emma glanced at her calendar and the current time. <em>How was it only 12:15?</em> “I’m free this afternoon, if that works for you. I mean, if you don’t need more time to settle in or if you don’t have anything, like if you had to get set up with HR or get your parking pass or…yeah.”</p><p>Alyssa grinned and shook her head, clearly trying to get Emma’s rambling to stop. “I’m free today, after lunch? So like 1:30?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s good.”</p><p>“Perfect.”</p><p>“Perfect.” Emma smiled back then.</p><p>It was then when an overly dramatic RA broke Emma and Alyssa from their little moment.</p><p>“Alyssaaaa,” Kaylee whined, draping her arms over Alyssa. “I’m hungry. Come get food with me.”</p><p>“Ok, ok. Let me put my stuff down and grab my wallet,” Alyssa replied. “Emma, are you coming?”</p><p>Emma did need to buy lunch but doing anything with Kaylee was new to her. They had only been working together for a few months and in that time, she wasn’t sure they said more than a few sentences to one another, and definitely none about anything outside of work. But Alyssa looked genuine in her invitation and she would have to go to the cafeteria anyway, so she agreed to come along. Nick, overhearing the conversation, shot up from his cubicle. “Where’s my invite, ladies?”</p><p>“Must have gotten lost in the mail,” Kaylee teased. Nick laughed and bounded over, making it clear that he wasn’t above inviting himself along.</p><p>And with that, the group got their food from the cafeteria and made their way back to the break room to eat. Joined by the lab’s junior research coordinator, Angie, the group of five were packed around a small table, with Nick pulling up a chair from a different table and squeezing in between Angie and Emma.</p><p>Lunch was better than Emma had pictured it would be, especially considering it was the first time that she had eaten with her colleagues and not alone at her desk. The conversation was pleasant, with some talk of who was working on what, but a good portion focused on personal lives and what everyone was watching on Netflix these days. They ended lunch after about an hour, and it was time for Emma and Alyssa to start on Alyssa’s training.</p><p>While Alyssa ran to the bathroom, Emma printed out the tests that she would be training Alyssa on (Alyssa had thoughtfully left the training checklist on Emma’s desk) and when she returned from the printer, Alyssa was standing there, ready to go. She had pulled her long dark hair into a low and loose ponytail, and had her arms wrapped around a notepad and clipboard, hugging them to her chest. She had traded in her gray blazer for the lab coat that hung in her cubicle, and the coat on top of her flowy blouse made her look extra adorable.</p><p><em>Professional.</em> <em>Extra professional. </em>Emma corrected to herself. Now was not the time to fall for the probably straight, definitely sweet, new girl that she was about to spend a few hours training, alone, in one of the testing rooms.</p><p>“What’s with the uh…” Emma trailed off, making a gesture of pulling on a coat.</p><p>“The lab coat?” A nod from Emma. “Oh, Dr. Allen said that I should wear one when I test participants. Which I now realize won’t be happening today.”</p><p>“No, not today.” A blush covered Alyssa’s cheeks and she moved to take off the lab coat. “You can keep it on though. You can get used to wearing it. And, I mean, you <em>are </em>rocking it.”</p><p>“Oh yes, the starch white really brings out the whites of my eyes.” Alyssa laughed a bit at this, her smile crinkling the corners of her eyes which seemed to be smiling and shimmering. It was a fuller smile than she’d been showing in the morning, and both Emma’s flirtatious side and her comedic side wanted to make sure that Alyssa never stopped smiling.</p><p>“The most important part of the eye to highlight, obviously.”</p><p>“Is that so?”</p><p>“Yeah, all the fashion magazines are raving about it. Saying that white is the new black, and all that.”</p><p>“Oof, racist.” Emma’s eyes widened, feeling very self-conscious about her mistake. She quickly tried to stammer out an apology to no avail. “Kidding! I’m kidding. The look on your face though, did I strike a chord there?”</p><p>Emma sighed in relief. “I wouldn’t ever want to say or do something hurt someone. I just know how people can be, firsthand. Just how bigoted they can be, and I don’t want…I would never want to…”</p><p>“You didn’t, I promise.” Alyssa said, placing a gentle hand onto the other girl’s arm. Emma relaxed then, but she could feel her cheeks heating up, undoubtedly filling with a pinkish hue that would put Sephora products to shame. “And ‘firsthand?’ Do you want to talk about it?”</p><p>“Oh no, you’ve only known me for a few hours. Not time for my tragic backstory yet.”</p><p>“Hm, when will it be time, then?”</p><p>Emma thought on that for a second. Alyssa was a coworker, and Emma was not in the business of outing herself to potentially homophobic coworkers, and even if Alyssa wasn’t homophobic, Emma wasn’t sure if she should dredge up her personal past. But something about how Alyssa was looking at her and how easily the jokes and conversation flowed between them made Emma feel like it wouldn’t be the worst thing to open up to the new girl. “A month, absolute minimum. Probably closer to two months, and probably with some alcohol.”</p><p>“Ok, that sounds fair. I will hold you to that, Emma.”</p><p>And for some reason, Emma hoped she would.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>First time writing for this fandom, and honestly, I'm drawing on a bit of personal experience. Also I'm making Nick nice right off the bat, which is perhaps OOC, but I just love himbo/lesbian friendships. Please let me know what you think!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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